Issue Reports

While Republicans have not put forward a comprehensive jobs agenda after eight months in the majority, Democrats are focused on supporting job creation through the Make It In America plan – a plan to promote job creation by providing an environment for businesses to innovate and make products here in the U.S., which will help more families Make It In America.

After more than 200 days in the majority, House Republicans have taken little action on jobs and have still not put forward a comprehensive jobs agenda. Meanwhile, Democrats have been focused on our Make It In America plan – a plan to support job creation by providing an environment for businesses to innovate and make products here in the U.S., which will help more families Make It In America. The Make It In America plan is an agenda that both Democrats and Republicans can, and have, supported. But rather than work with us on our plan to revitalize American industry and create well-paying, middle-class jobs, Republicans have focused on passing bills that support their partisan agenda rather than actually helping create jobs and grow the economy.

With less than a week until possible default, Speaker Boehner and House Republicans continue to advocate for a debt limit proposal that does not solve the problem; instead, it kicks the can down the road and does not give our economy the certainty it needs. Republicans often argue that we must give the business community certainty so that we can create jobs and grow the economy. But instead of working with Democrats on a long-term, balanced solution to pay our bills and reduce the deficit, Republicans are holding our economy hostage to their short-term proposal that will fail in the Senate.

When Republicans took the House majority, they pledged to focus on creating jobs and growing the economy. But after 200 days, Republicans have only passed one jobs bill—the patent reform bill, which is part of Democrats’ Make It In America agenda to support invention and innovation in our economy. But one jobs bill is not enough to help the millions of Americans still out of work. Republicans have still not put forward a comprehensive jobs agenda.

Today, Republicans are wasting time on their “Cut, Cap and End Medicare” bill, bringing it to the House Floor for a symbolic vote, despite the fact that it is expected to fail in the Senate and the President will veto it. While Democrats are calling on Republicans to act quickly to enact a large agreement to reduce the deficit and ensure America pays its bills, Republicans are pressing forward with an extreme proposal that increases our chances of default and is the Republican budget all over again: it ends Medicare and drastically cuts Medicaid, while preserving tax breaks for the wealthy.

As Republicans continue to walk away from an opportunity to seriously address the deficit and give businesses certainty, Democrats are calling on the GOP to take responsibility for the debt they helped create and work with us on a big, comprehensive agreement to ensure America pays its bills and restore America’s fiscal health. Democrats believe we must reduce the deficit with a balanced, comprehensive package that includes both revenues and spending cuts.

Yesterday, Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Cantor argued that the fact that they are considering an increase in the debt limit is a concession, as both parties try to negotiate a large, comprehensive agreement to reduce the deficit and ensure America pays its bills. Ensuring America pays its bills isn’t a concession—it’s their responsibility. After all, their own budget, which nearly every Republican voted for, raises the debt limit and it was their policies that created most of our debt.

This week, Republicans backed away from negotiating a larger, comprehensive agreement to reduce the deficit and ensure America pays its bills. Instead, Republicans are choosing less deficit reduction, despite the fact that they argue deficit reduction is critical to boosting the economy and creating jobs and identified it as a top priority in their Pledge to America.

Over the past six months, Republicans have held our economy hostage by suggesting America may not pay its bills. But before they were against it, Republicans strongly supported action to ensure we pay our nation’s bills.

Since launching the Medicare program on July 1, 1966, Democrats have fought to improve health care security for America’s seniors by ensuring reliable and affordable health care coverage. For forty-five years, Medicare’s guaranteed set of benefits and affordable premiums have improved health care coverage and quality of life for seniors substantially.

In their Pledge to America, Republicans promised they would focus on creating jobs and growing our economy. They claim the bills they have brought to the Floor this Congress address those priorities, but their bills are more focused on Republican ideology than actually creating jobs. Republicans do not have a comprehensive jobs agenda, but that hasn’t stopped them from using misleading bill titles to convince the American people that they do.

When Republicans took the House majority, they pledged to focus on creating jobs and growing the economy. But after six months, they still haven’t put forward a comprehensive jobs agenda. While Democrats are focused on the Make It In America agenda, a plan to support job creation and boost working families, Republicans are pursuing a partisan agenda that has the wrong priorities.

Despite Republican claims that they have been “laser-focused” on job creation, their actions have not lived up to their rhetoric. Republicans have been in the majority for six months and have not presented a comprehensive strategy to create jobs. Instead, the bills they have brought to the Floor are more focused on their partisan agenda than actually helping create jobs and grow the economy. These ideological bills have little chance of becoming law.

This week, Republicans are once again falsely accusing Congressional Democrats and the Obama administration of stifling domestic energy production. Democrats are committed to safe, responsible drilling as part of a comprehensive plan to ease the pain at the pump and have taken steps to do so; including proposing legislation to safely expand domestic production while investing in job-creating clean energy technologies and ending tax breaks for big oil companies.

House Republicans argue that they have been “laser focused” on jobs but after six months in the majority, Republicans have not brought a single jobs bill to the Floor. Here’s a look at what they have pursued since taking the majority—a divisive agenda that has not lived up to the Republican pledge that job creation would be a top priority.

It’s clear Republicans haven’t lived up to their pledge to focus on job creation in the past, but we hope, for the sake of the American people, that this summer is different. Democrats stand ready to work with Republicans so that we can create jobs, grow the economy and enact a plan to reduce the deficit.

Yesterday, Majority Leader Cantor acknowledged the consequences of failing to raise the debt limit—a statement Democrats welcome as we continue to call on Republicans to work with us to ensure America pays its bills and set a plan to reduce the deficit. Despite months of warnings from economists, business leaders and Wall Street executives, Republicans have held our economy hostage by suggesting we may not pay our nation’s bills.

Last week, House Majority Leader Cantor released a memo on the Floor schedule for the rest of the summer that claimed House Republicans have been “laser focused” on job creation. Unfortunately, the facts don’t back up that claim. Since taking the majority six months ago, Republicans have said over and over again that they are focused on jobs, and yet we have not seen a single jobs bills brought to the Floor:

Yesterday, House Republicans voted in lockstep to deem the Republican budget passed. Their budget makes the wrong choices—ending Medicare and raising costs for seniors while giving tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans.

Today, Republicans are wasting taxpayers’ time and money by bringing a debt limit extension to the Floor that they intend to defeat. Rather than working with Democrats to ensure America pays its bills and lay out a responsible plan to reduce the deficit, Republicans have put forward this political stunt.

After this week’s stunning electoral upset in Western New York, Republicans have gone into overdrive trying to defend their misguided budget plan to end Medicare as we know it and more than double costs for seniors.

This week, Senate Republicans vote on the Republican budget that makes the wrong choices for how to address our nation’s deficits: it ends Medicare as we know it, raises costs for seniors, and gives tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans.